Suppressing undesirable behaviors is like bad plumbing repairs

When homeowners discover leaks in their ceiling, they will normally try to figure out where the leak is coming from before taking action. What would happen if a homeowner simply plastered over the leak before investigating? The homeowner would be happy for a short time because there would be no visible leak.
But because the main cause wasn’t addressed, more problems are highly likely. Problems that will continue to get worse until the main problem is fixed.

Suppressing undesirable pet behaviors is like fixing a leak at the end rather than at source.

Example, a dog barks incessantly, so the pet parents throw a can of pennies at the dog. The sound of the can might be startling enough to make the dog quiet. But this technique does nothing to address the root issue. If the dog is barking because of stress, the startle from the can of pennies is likely to add to the stress. When we take away a dog’s outlet for stress (barking), that stress will manifest itself in other ways – ways that might seem unrelated. For instance, the silenced dog might start having potty training accidents inside the residence. The dog might even be stressed enough to start biting people.

A better way to help a dog with behavioral issues is through training, management, stress reduction and counter conditioning and desensitization.

To read more on treating the whole dog, click here or on the graphic below.